Bryan's Blog

Chickie and H.S. Girls To Build Bike at Sturgis

Friday, July 9, 2010

Athena ‘Chickie’ Ransom of Vagabond Choppers will be building a ground-up custom in one-day at the Broken Spoke Saloon in Sturgis. No big deal, you say. ‘Chickie’s’ crew for the project will be three high school girls who wrote winning essays for the opportunity to work alongside the highly regarded custom bike builder. The girls are members of their

Athena 'Chickie' Ransom will be building a ground-up custom in one day on the stage of the Broken Spoke Saloon at Sturgis along with three high school girls who won an essay contest.

high school’s bike clubs, usually after school programs where they learn how to wrench on and build motorcycles. The winners are Chelsea Jonah and Britney Clements form the Bernice McNaughton High School Bike Klub out of Canada and the third is Alex Bednarz out of Eden High School Bike Club in New York.

When we talked to ‘Chickie’ during New Orleans Bike Week, she was excited about working with the girls and is looking forward to sharing her bike-building knowledge with them. The girls in the high school bike building classes had to write an essay explaining why they should be chosen to come to Sturgis and help Ransom out with the build. The motorcycle they are building will be raffled off at Daytona Biketoberfest 2010 with proceeds going to the two high school bike clubs that are participating in the event. The high school programs are self-supporting and rely heavily on fundraisers and donations from bike builders and manufacturers to keep them up and running.

If you’re going to be in Sturgis next month for the rally, be sure to stop by the Broken Spoke Saloon at 905 Lazelle St. in downtown Sturgis on Wednesday, August 11 to cheer the girls on. ‘Chickie’ has a big heart and wants to help empower these girls and let them know that they can do anything they put their hearts and minds to, because as ‘Chickie’ says, “motorcycles aren’t gender specific.”